After the AAP attacked the BJP-led Centre for non-disbursal of over five lakh scholarships meant for SC/ST students in Delhi, the BJP has said that as the elected government, it (AAP) can’t say it was “kept in the dark by the officers”. The BJP on Monday also accused the AAP of attempting to “shift its failures on the central government”.

Delhi’s SC/ST minister Rajendra Pal Gautam, meanwhile, said the Delhi government would soon bring a Bill to penalise officials who misuse and divert funds meant for Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) and that the government is also planning to set up an SC Commission for the National Capital Region. AAP MLA Adarsh Shastri had raised the issue in the Assembly.

Shastri blamed the National Scholarship Portal (NSP) — responsible for timely disbursal of scholarships — for its non-distribution. AAP MLA Alka Lamba said, “The students were victims of the government’s incomplete Digital India initiative as the central government had opened the NSP for timely disbursal of scholarships.” Responding to the concerns, Gautam promised that there will be no pending scholarships from the next academic session and added that the Bill was in the pipeline.

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, BJP’s Vijender Gupta, in a statement, said, “Not only scholarships, but loans have also been denied to SC/ST, OBCs, minorities and Divyangs under the AAP regime.” “After having slept from 2015-17, the Delhi government now can’t say that the elected government was kept in the dark by the officers. The government must not shift its failures to the central government,” he added.

BJP MLA Manjinder Singh Sirsa added, “This is the constant refrain — BJP doesn’t let us work. But of these 12 schemes, five are of the Delhi government. How is it that the government, which claims to be working for the common people, did not know about it for 18 months?”